1979 (song)
For the Good Charlotte song, see Cardiology (album). "1979" Single by The Smashing Pumpkins from the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Released January 23, 1996 Format 7" and 12" vinyl, CD, cassette Recorded 1995 Genre Alternative rock Length 4:24 (album/single/video version) 4:16 (radio edit) Label Virgin Writer(s) Billy Corgan Producer(s) Flood · Alan Moulder · Billy Corgan Certification Gold (RIAA) The Smashing Pumpkins singles chronology "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" (1995) "1979" (1996) "Zero" (1996) Audio sample 0:00 file info · help Music video "1979" on YouTube "1979" is a song by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. Released in 1996 as the second single from their third studio album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, "1979" was written by frontman Billy Corgan, and features loops and samples that were uncharacteristic of previous Smashing Pumpkins songs.1 The song was written as a coming of age story by Corgan. In the year 1979, Corgan was 12 and this is what he considered his transition into adolescence. The song was popular with critics and fans; Allmusic's Amy Hanson called it a "somewhat surprising hit".2 The song was nominated for the Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the Grammy Awards, and won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video. The song appears in Grand Theft Auto IV on the station Liberty Rock Radio 97.8, "1979" is also a playable song in Guitar Hero World Tour as part of the Smashing Pumpkins track pack DLC. The song also featured during the end credits of the sim racing game Gran Turismo 5. Contents 1 Background and music 2 Reception 3 Music video 4 Track listing 5 Chart positions 5.1 Weekly charts 5.2 End of year charts 6 See also 7 References 8 External links Background and music According to statements in interviews, Corgan worked nonstop after the Siamese Dream tour and wrote about 56 songs for Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness,3 the last of which was "1979". As the Mellon Collie sessions came to a conclusion, "1979" was just a couple of chord changes and a snippet of a melody without words. When the time came to choose the songs that were to appear on the album, producer Flood said that "1979" was "not good enough" and wanted to drop it from the record. This, however, inspired Corgan to finish it in four hours. The next day, Flood heard "1979" once and decided immediately to put it on the album.1 Corgan considers "1979" the most personally important song on Mellon Collie.4 The song features a sample of Corgan's voice repeated throughout. During recording, Corgan was singing "ooh" as the melody line, so he and Flood decided to record him singing to a tape. The pair electronically manipulated several samples and looped them against a drumbeat.5 Reception "1979" is the Smashing Pumpkins' highest-charting single, reaching number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks and on the Modern Rock Tracks charts.6 Virgin credited the inclusion of the single's bonus tracks for driving sales.7 The song was nominated for the Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the Grammy Awards. Pitchfork Media included the song at number 21 on their Top 200 Tracks of the 90s and said "'1979' was Billy Corgan asking, 'You know this feeling?' and the second you heard that guitar line the immediate answer was, 'I do-- tell me more.'"8 In a 1996 Spin interview, Corgan indicated that "1979" was probably the only indication he had for what the next Pumpkins album would sound like, "something that combines technology, and a rock sensibility, and pop, and whatever, and hopefully clicks. Between 'Bullet with Butterfly Wings' and '1979' you have the bookends of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. You've literally heard the end of the rock thing, and the beginning of the new thing".9 The song was voted #13 on Triple J Hottest 100 in 1996, it was later voted #71 on the Hottest 100 of All Time in 1998, #35 on the 2009 edition and #21 on the Hottest 100 of the Past 20 Years in 2013. Music video The music video for "1979" was directed by the team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who had previously directed the music video for "Rocket". Originally, the band approached another director (possibly Spike Jonze1) to film the video for "1979". His idea was that all the band members were residents in an alien hotel and they were all going to have specially made alien-elephant masks. This video would have cost over a million dollars.10 The video follows a day in the life of disaffected suburban teenagers driving around in a Dodge Charger. It is based on a concept Corgan created, featuring an idealized version of teenage life, while also trying to capture the feeling of being bored in the Chicago suburbs, where Corgan grew up. In the Video the Dodge Charger has Illinois license plates, although in the driving scenes the mountains of California are visible in the background shots. Originally, Corgan wanted a scene of violence, in which the convenience store was trashed by the teens at the end of the video, but Dayton and Faris convinced him to go for something tamer. Aside from Corgan appearing throughout the video in the backseat of a car, the other band members had small parts in the video; James Iha appears as a convenience store clerk, D'arcy Wretzky as an irate neighbor, Jimmy Chamberlin as a policeman, and all three of them appear together as the band in the party scene. Band manager "Gooch" plays Jimmy's partner.10 Upon finishing the video shoot, the band flew to New York to perform. However, all tapes of the footage were accidentally left sitting on top of a car, and were lost as the driver departed. The group later flew back to re-shoot the party scene.10 The "1979" video was highly acclaimed. It won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video in 1996. It was one of Canadian cable television music channel MuchMusic's Countdown number-one videos of 1996. Billy Corgan considers it the Pumpkins' best video,10 calling it "the closest we've ever come to realizing everything we wanted."1 The video for the 1998 song "Perfect" is a sequel to this one, and involves the same characters who are now older. The aforementioned incident with the loss of the original footage is parodied in one of the later video's final scenes, in which a cassette tape is left on top of a car and falls off as a character drives out of a parking lot at high speed, and is subsequently destroyed by another vehicle. Track listing US 7" double A-side single 11 No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "1979" Billy Corgan 4:24 2. "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" Billy Corgan 4:16 UK/US CD single/UK 12" 121314 No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "1979" Billy Corgan 4:24 2. "Ugly" Billy Corgan 2:28 3. "Believe" James Iha 3:15 4. "Cherry" Billy Corgan 4:02 1996 Re-issue/Max-CD15 No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "1979" Billy Corgan 4:24 2. "Ugly" Billy Corgan 2:28 3. "The Boy" James Iha 3:04 4. "Cherry" Billy Corgan 4:02 5. "Believe" James Iha 3:15 6. "Set The Ray To Jerry" Billy Corgan 4:10 1979 Mixes 16 No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "1979 (Vocal Mix)" Billy Corgan 5:08 2. "1979 (Instrumental Mix)" Billy Corgan 5:17 3. "1979 (Moby Mix)" Billy Corgan 6:39 4. "1979 (Cement Mix)" Billy Corgan 4:40 Tracks 1, 2, and 4 are remixed by Roli Mosimann. Track 3 is remixed by Moby.17 Chart positions Weekly charts Chart (1996)1819 Peak position Australia (ARIA)20 16 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)21 37 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)22 21 Canada Top Singles (RPM) 2 Canada Alternative 30 (RPM) 1 Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)23 11 France (SNEP)24 38 Ireland (IRMA)25 6 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)26 29 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)27 9 UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)28 16 US Billboard Hot 100 12 US Billboard Pop Songs 10 US Billboard Alternative Songs 1 US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs 17 US Billboard Adult Pop Songs 30 US Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 1 End of year charts End of year chart (1996) Position Australia (ARIA)29 94 Canadian RPM Singles Chart30 15 Canadian RPM Alternative 3031 3 Canada Dance (RPM)32 35 U.S. Billboard Hot 10033 44 See also Number one modern rock hits of 1996 List of number-one mainstream rock hits (United States) List of RPM Rock/Alternative number-one singles (Canada) References 1.^ Jump up to: a b c d Greg Kot. "A Long Strange Trip to 1979". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 2.Jump up ^ Amy Hanson. 1979 (song) at AllMusic. Retrieved 17 August 2011. 3.Jump up ^ Corgan, Billy; Iha, James; Wretzky, D'arcy (1996-12-19). Hora Prima. (Interview). MTV Latin America. 4.Jump up ^ Billy Corgan (29 May 1998). Billy Corgan interview. Interview with Karl Daher. 5.Jump up ^ "King B's". Guitar World (January 1997). 6.Jump up ^ "Charts & Awards: Smashing Pumpkins". Allmusic. Retrieved 26 August 2013. 7.Jump up ^ Craig Rosen. "CD Single Sales Spurred by Addition of Nonalbum Cuts". Billboard (March 30, 1996). 8.Jump up ^ "The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s: 50-21". Pitchfork. 2 September 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 9.Jump up ^ Craig Marks. "Zero Worship". Spin (June 1996). 10.^ Jump up to: a b c d The Smashing Pumpkins – Greatest Hits Video Collection (1991–2000) (DVD). Virgin Records. 2001. 11.Jump up ^ http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=224570 12.Jump up ^ http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=61852 13.Jump up ^ http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=65234 14.Jump up ^ http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=85444 15.Jump up ^ http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=76593 16.Jump up ^ http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=217070 17.Jump up ^ "Moby Tries To Collect Debt From Pumpkins Corgan". 28 May 1997. Archived from the original on 14 June 1997. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 18.Jump up ^ "The Smashing Pumpkins Artist Chart History". Billboard.com. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 19.Jump up ^ 1979 (song) at AllMusic. Retrieved 17 August 2011. 20.Jump up ^ "Australian-charts.com – The Smashing Pumpkins – 1979". ARIA Top 50 Singles. 21.Jump up ^ "Ultratop.be – The Smashing Pumpkins – 1979" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. 22.Jump up ^ "Ultratop.be – The Smashing Pumpkins – 1979" (in French). Ultratop 50. 23.Jump up ^ "The Smashing Pumpkins: 1979" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. 24.Jump up ^ "Lescharts.com – The Smashing Pumpkins – 1979" (in French). Les classement single. 25.Jump up ^ "The Irish Charts – All there is to know > Search results for: 1979 (from irishcharts.ie)". Imgur.com (original source published by Fireball Media). Retrieved 29 May 2016. 26.Jump up ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – The Smashing Pumpkins search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40. 27.Jump up ^ "Charts.org.nz – The Smashing Pumpkins – 1979". Top 40 Singles. 28.Jump up ^ "Official Charts > Smashing Pumpkins". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 29 May 2016. 29.Jump up ^ "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles 1996". Imgur.com (original document published by ARIA). Retrieved 29 May 2016. 30.Jump up ^ "Top Singles - Volume 64, No. 18, December 16, 1996". RPM. Retrieved 19 October 2010. 31.Jump up ^ "Top 100 Hit Tracks". RPM. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 32.Jump up ^ Canada Top 50 Dance Tracks of 1996 33.Jump up ^ "Billboard Top 100 - 1996". longboredsurfer.com. Retrieved 5 October 2011. External links "1979" official music video on YouTube hide v · t · e The Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan · Jeff Schroeder · Jimmy Chamberlin James Iha · Melissa Auf der Maur · D'arcy Wretzky · Nicole Fiorentino · Mike Byrne Studio albums Gish · Siamese Dream · Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness · Adore · Machina/The Machines of God · Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music · Zeitgeist · Teargarden by Kaleidyscope (Oceania · Monuments to an Elegy) Extended plays Lull · Peel Sessions · Zero · American Gothic Live albums Earphoria · Oceania: Live in NYC Compilation albums Siamese Singles · Pisces Iscariot · The Aeroplane Flies High · Rotten Apples · Judas O Singles "I Am One" · "Tristessa" · "Siva" · "Cherub Rock" · "Today" · "Disarm" · "Rocket" · "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" · "1979" · "Zero" · "Tonight, Tonight" · "Thirty-Three" · "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" · "Ava Adore" · "Perfect" · "The Everlasting Gaze" · "Stand Inside Your Love" · "Try, Try, Try" · "Untitled" · "Tarantula" · "That's the Way (My Love Is)" · "G.L.O.W." · "Freak" · "The Celestials" · "Panopticon" · "Being Beige" · "Drum + Fife" Promotional singles "Rhinoceros" · "Drown" · "Muzzle" · "Eye" · "Crestfallen" · "I of the Mourning" · "Doomsday Clock" · "Widow Wake My Mind" · "Owata" · "One and All" Other songs "Mayonaise" · "Soma" · "Geek U.S.A." · "Landslide" · "Superchrist" · "FOL" · "A Song for a Son" · "Quasar" Promotional releases The Smashing Pumpkins 1991–1998 · The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music Videos Vieuphoria · Greatest Hits Video Collection · If All Goes Wrong · Oceania: Live in NYC Tours The End Times Tour Related articles Bands Catherine · The Frogs · Starchildren · Zwan Other Discography · Band members · Awards and nominations · Constantinople Records · "Homerpalooza" · TheFutureEmbrace Category Category Category:The Smashing Pumpkins songs Category:1995 songs Category:1996 singles Category:1990s ballads Category:Billboard Mainstream Rock number-one singles Category:Billboard Alternative Songs number-one singles Category:Songs written by Billy Corgan Category:Song recordings produced by Flood (producer) Category:Song recordings produced by Billy Corgan Category:Rock ballads Category:Music videos directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris Category:Virgin Records singles Category:Song recordings produced by Alan Moulder